Lithuania schedules evacuation flight from Dubai

VILNIUS - An evacuation flight from Dubai to Vilnius is scheduled to repatriate about 100 Lithuanian citizens, Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene announced on Thursday.

"About 100 Lithuanian citizens, as well as groups of Latvian and Estonian citizens, are planned to be repatriated," the head of government said on Facebook.

The flight is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. and will be operated by airline FlyDubai.

Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Centre, told reporters on Thursday that the list of passengers had already been compiled.

"These are, of course, vulnerable people, but also their family members. We do not want to separate them, so the list is larger and more people responded to our requests to register," he said.

Passengers are advised to arrive at the airport three hours in advance.

Rimgaudas Losys, director of the Consular Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said an embassy representative will also be working at the airport to help people navigate the situation.

"We have sent basic information about the flight time, the company, and a reminder that they have a chance to arrive at the airport to registered citizens. Well, and we will maintain as close contact with them as possible, exchange news, and update information," he affirmed.

According to officials, the passenger list mainly includes Lithuanian citizens located in Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

Lithuania expect that one evacuation flight will be sufficient, as only vulnerable individuals - those with health problems, elderly people, pregnant women and families with small children - are planned to be brought back.

"But of course, there are opportunities to leave on other flights, (...) there are other regional countries that also operate flights. And for those of our citizens who will need help, we will help, we will work intensively, we will certainly not limit ourselves to tomorrow, we will look for opportunities to get them on planes operated by our allies," Vitkauskas said.

Losys said the Foreign Ministry is collecting information about flights throughout the region and available seats on them.

"Today we certainly had a lot of such arrangements in Oman, where there are quite a few flights. We are also coordinating (flights - BNS) from Saudi Arabia, we have departures from Jordan. This work is ongoing, as we constantly receive offers from our partners," the diplomat said.

Ruginiene added that it is hoped that most of the evacuation flight costs will be covered by European Union funds.

According to the head of the National Crisis Management Centre, the Lithuanian state will initially pay for the service provided and then apply to a European Union fund for reimbursement of about 75 percent of the costs.

"The decision on evacuation was made after assessing the limited operation of airspace, difficult movement in the region, and a direct threat to people's safety," Ruginiene stated.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications signed an agreement with airline FlyDubai on Thursday for the repatriation of Lithuanian citizens from Dubai.

Around 1,420 Lithuanian citizens in the Middle East region have registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But Vitkauskas noted that the number is decreasing daily as people find various ways to leave.

The first charter flight operated by FlyDubai arrived in Vilnius from Dubai overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, carrying some passengers who had previously purchased tickets with the airline. A second FlyDubai charter flight arrived in Vilnius from Dubai on Friday night.